


Puppy Love

by JehBeeEh



Series: One-Shots from Across the Multiverse [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Mostly just about Puppy Steve, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Puppy Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has Nightmares, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, because MAGIC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24597766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehBeeEh/pseuds/JehBeeEh
Summary: Steve gets turned into a puppy.That's it. That's the fic.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: One-Shots from Across the Multiverse [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1656748
Comments: 63
Kudos: 352





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adoctoraday/gifts).



> This is all because Stella posted this picture, and got the whole Discord Server in a frenzy, and I couldn't NOT write this fic after seeing the prompt - which was very simply, Steve gets turned into a puppy and Tony takes care of him until he changes back.
> 
> A HUGE thanks to QueenE for the beta, the whole POTS server for cheering this little thing on as it became longer, and longer. And Heather, you know which part is in there just for you.

The dust settled, quite literally in this case, and Tony landed in one of the few clear areas he could see. He scanned around him, easily spotting Hulk and Thor.

“Nat? Barton? You guys okay?” he asked through their comms, both of them quickly acknowledging the message. “Anyone seen Cap? He was right there.”

“Last I saw of our good Captain, he was with my brother, just before he vanished,” Thor chimed in.

“That can’t be good,” Tony mumbled as he scanned again.

He spotted the shield on his second pass of the area, discarded on the ground, and made his way towards it. Just as Tony was about to lift it up, he saw it move. He froze, thinking he must have imagined it, but it jerked upwards again, like something was trapped underneath. He prepared himself, one hand reaching down slowly to lift the shield, the other ready to shoot at whatever might be hiding underneath should it prove to be hostile. He lifted the shield slowly, getting the gauntlet’s fingers under the edge and flipped it over only to discover… a puppy?

“How did you get under there, little guy?” Tony murmured, as he opened up the face plate. The puppy didn’t seem scared in the least, coming right up to him, and jumping up against his leg, tail wagging furiously. “Guys, I still don’t have eyes on Cap,” Tony announced. At that, the little furball jumping at his leg started barking, a soft sound given its size, and Tony scooped him up easily.

“No one can see him anywhere, Tony,” Clint answered back. “Let’s meet back at the jet, maybe he’s waiting for us there?”

Tony agreed, grabbing the shield and heading back with the puppy in his other arm. He kept calling out for Steve as he went, making the puppy bark more furiously. “You are a rambunctious little thing, aren’t you? You’re pretty cute, too.” The puppy let out an adorable  _ yip _ and tilted his head to the side, making Tony smile. “We’ll figure out where your owner is soon, I promise.”

He reached the jet and saw the team waiting for him. Clint was the first one to spot the pup.

“Where did you find this little guy?” Clint exclaimed as he reached to grab the puppy from Tony.

“He was hiding under Cap’s shield. There was no one else around, so I figured I’d bring him back here until we can find their owner.” Tony looked around and into the Quinjet. “He’s not here?”

“No, we can’t find him. Last I heard him, he said he had eyes on Loki, and his comms cut off, I think. Maybe it got damaged somehow,” Natasha added, making the puppy bark again. She turned towards Clint and scratched the puppy’s head. “You are so adorable, aren’t you?”

“Should we stay here and wait for him?” Clint asked as he looked around. “I mean, he knows where the tower is, I’m sure he can make his way back.”

“Yeah. Something seems odd. And, no sign of Loki anywhere, Thor?” Tony asked, having JARVIS run one more scan of the area.

“No. It would appear Loki escaped. I will go back to Asgard and see if anyone has seen him and send word back at once.”

“Is there a chance he could have taken Cap with him?” Tony thought out loud. The puppy started barking more frantically now, trying to paw at Tony’s armour. “You are seriously persistent, little dude. You’re almost a bigger pain in the butt than Cap is!” He added, as the small furball started growling at him.

“He is really feisty,” Clint added as he tried to contain the puppy who was trying very hard to climb out of his grip.

Tony gave one last look around before making a call. “How about we head back to the tower and we can try and figure it out there? Banner looks like he’s getting antsy in the jet, and fighting Loki before lunchtime requires extra caffeine. You can head back to Asgard after that, Thor?”

They all agreed and hopped on the jet for the short ride back to the tower. Once they got back to the Tower, Clint left the puppy to roam so he could get changed. Tony watched it run straight to the main living room, like it knew exactly where it wanted to go, and jump on the couch.

“Hey, no no,” Tony ran after him. “That’s Cap’s spot. No one sits there, not even your adorable self.” Tony scooped him up and plopped down on the spot next to the one Steve normally occupied, stretching his legs in front of him to rest on the coffee table. He settled the puppy on his chest, scratching its head and ears. “JARVIS, can you run a search and let me know if anyone reports missing a dog around where we were? What kind of dog is this, anyway?”

“I believe that is a young corgi, sir, although the eye colour is throwing my reading off. Corgis typically do not have such a bright blue eye colour, even at a young age,” JARVIS replied.

“He must be a mix,” Tony shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, you are still freaking adorable. Yes, you are.” He smiled as he cooed to the dog, nuzzling its head. The puppy just let itself be snuggled for a moment before shaking its head and making little barking sounds like it was trying to talk.

“I checked Steve’s room and he isn’t there. I have no idea where he is,” Natasha announced as she came back into the room. “You two seem cozy.”

“He is really snuggleable,” Tony looked back at her with a happy smirk.

“Stark, where did you say you located this small creature?” Thor asked as he settled himself on one of the chairs opposite the couch.

Tony looked up at Thor with a questioning look, not stopping his hands rubbing the puppy who’d settled against his chest with what sounded like a groan. “He was under the shield when I found him, why?”

“This may seem far fetched, but have we considered that our good Captain may have been transformed by my brother for some reason?”

With that sentence, the puppy launched itself off Tony and started barking furiously and running around the living room in a circle, jumping on Thor for a second, before leaping back on the couch beside Tony – right in Steve’s usual spot.

“But… what? How… WHAT?” was all Tony could say. “Are you seriously suggesting I was just  _ nuzzling _ STEVE?” Tony yelped.

“We are talking about Loki here, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing he’s done,” Natasha pondered.

The puppy stared at Tony, quirked its head to the side and put a paw on his arm. Tony’s mouth fell more and more open with every passing second. “Steve?!” he simply asked. The puppy barked again and made a little whiny sound. “Well I’ll be damned… Um. Sorry for the- before.” The puppy –  _ Steve _ – shook his head and rested his head on Tony’s arm.

“Thor, is there anything we can do about this?” Natasha asked.

“Well, I’ll need to find Loki and ask just what he did to the Captain. Until then, just do whatever you would normally do with such an adorable creature.”

Tony scratched Steve’s head absentmindedly before catching himself and murmuring a sorry. Why was it that every encounter with Loki resulted in one of them being struck by magic? He let his head fall to the back of the couch as Clint came back in, Natasha explaining the latest developments to him. Steve whined slightly beside him as he heard Clint cackling, and Tony felt horrible for him.

“We’ll figure this out, Cap, I promise. I’m not going to let you end up on the Paw Patrol,” Tony told Steve who just looked at him with a confused expression that reminded Tony too much of the real deal. “It’s a kids TV show, we can watch it later. Come on, let’s get you some food.”

* * *

Later that same day, Natasha eyed the items Tony was emptying on the counter after he’d gone out for errands. Steve walked in the kitchen, stretching adorably in the doorway before running the rest of the way towards Tony.

“Hey Captain Pupmerica,” Tony sing-songed to him. “Got you a few things while I was out. And, before you start barking at me, I asked and yes, you can eat almost all the same things as us. No weird kibble for you. No chocolate though.”

“You know, Steve won’t be a puppy forever, right?” Natasha chimed in as Tony pulled out a puppy life-vest from one of the bags.

“Better safe than sorry, Nat,” Tony answered, setting the food bowls he’d gotten on the ground, after filling one of them up with water.

Natasha peeked into a few of the bags and stared at Tony with a frown. “Did you really need to buy everything Captain America themed though?”

Tony looked at her with a confused look. “Was I supposed to buy him generic crap? These were the cutest ones they had at the store. If it makes you feel better, they were sold out of all the Black Widow merch.”

“When did we approve a line of pet products anyways?” she thought out-loud, watching as Tony pulled out plushies themed after each Avenger, except herself, and throwing them on the floor near Steve, who jumped on the replica of his shield as soon as it hit the ground. Tony laughed softly at how much bigger than him it was now that he was seeing Steve next to it.

“That was right after we accidentally destroyed that animal shelter in Brooklyn. Steve was upset, so I had this line designed, and all the money goes back to animal foundations and shelters in New York,” Tony answered simply, pulling out more toys from the bag.

Steve barked softly next to him, pawing at his leg. Tony picked him up and set him on the counter. “I know, I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry, okay. I just couldn’t stand to see you moping around, even after I told you I’d found them a new temporary office until they could rebuild. Figured this was a nice thing to do.” Steve licked his hand once, and Tony gave him a quick scratch behind his ear.

Natasha looked at them during the exchange, shaking her head at how surreal the whole situation was, before continuing. “Tony, I know it’s Steve, but he is still a dog. I don’t think he should be on the counter.”

“I’m pretty sure actual human asses have sat on this counter,” Tony answered absentmindedly as he took out a few boxes of Dentastix for puppies and placed them on the counter.

“What?” Tony looked over to see both Natasha and Steve looking at him with questioning looks.

“Seriously, we live with Barton! You can’t tell me his ass hasn’t been on this counter before.”

Natasha lifted an eyebrow, and Tony sighed out a  _ fine _ . He lifted Steve up, moved one of the empty bags underneath him and placed him back in the same spot. Both of them looked at her, waiting for a comment. When none came, Tony pulled out one last item from the final bag.

“Did you seriously buy him a sweater?”

“It’s cold outside! Didn’t you see him shiver when he was doing his business on the balcony after lunch? I don’t think he retained his usual always-over-heating quality when Loki magiced him into this tiny thing,” Tony answered, as if this was an obvious need. “He needs to go on walks, and I will not have him freeze.”

Tony slipped the cream, cable knit sweater over Steve, looking pleased at how  adorable warm it seemed. Steve sat back once Tony was done, wagging his tail happily.

“See? He likes it!”

“You two idiots deserve each other,” Natasha said as she shook her head and left the kitchen.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony called out after her, while Steve just looked down at the counter. “Anyways, wanna watch a movie? You can’t have popcorn, but we must have something in here you can have instead.”

Steve sat up and barked happily, making Tony smile as he went to the cupboards to find snacks.

“Great! So, what’ll it be? Lady and the Tramp? Bolt? Marley and Me?” Tony heard a sound he knew human Steve would have accompanied by a very obvious eyeroll which made him smile again.

Later that night, when Tony finally got up to head to his room, Steve sat on the couch, whining softly.

“What’s wrong? You can have the whole couch to yourself,” Tony asked. Steve barked back at him, a soft little sound and looked down at the couch shifting a bit on his front paws, and Tony sighed. “You can’t stay alone for the night? Steve, you’ll be fine.”

Steve lay himself on the couch, his head on his front paws, looking sad. This should not be getting to Tony this way. Of course, it was  _ Steve _ , and Tony had always been a sucker for those blue eyes, so it would explain why even in puppy form, he didn’t need to say a thing and Tony would bend over backwards for him. (Or forward, but he was not thinking about that right now. Nope.)

“This is emotional manipulation, Rogers.” Did Steve seriously look pleased with himself right now? “You asshole, you know exactly what you’re doing! Fine, come on. You can sleep in my room. Bedtime!”

Steve jumped off the couch and trotted in front of Tony, clearly delighted he’d won the battle. He picked up the Captain America shield plushie along the way, tripping over it a few times given its size, but he managed to get it to the room himself. Once Tony opened the door to his room, Steve made a run for it and tried to jump on the bed, but only reached half-way up the mattress before falling back to the ground. He dropped the plushie, ran back, taking a longer run and still came up short. Tony leaned against the doorway, watching Steve run back and forth, trying to get on the bed, a smile creeping on his face at the sight. When Steve started growling at the bed, Tony laughed.

“You are seriously stubborn, you know that? Come here, you,” Tony picked up a rather offended looking pooch, and dropped him playfully on the bed, throwing the shield on top of him. “This is your side, I get the other one. And don’t you dare come into the bathroom while I’m getting changed.”

Tony went about his pre-bedtime routine. By the time he got back to his room, Steve had fallen asleep, curled up on the pillow.

“This’ll be interesting…” Tony muttered as he got into bed.

* * *

“Dum-E, leave him alone!” Tony was holding Steve over his head, out of the bot’s reach. “It’s Steve! He was just trying to play with you.”

Dum-E beeped angrily, Steve barked, and Tony sighed.

“Children, if you cannot get along, you are both getting a time-out,” Tony scolded them. All noises stopped. He brought Steve back down to his chest, cradling him tightly in case the bot decided to make another attempt at snatching him with his claw. “That’s better. Dum-E, I know this is weird, but it’s Steve, I swear. I know he usually throws  _ you _ the ball, but if you throw it, he can go fetch it now. Okay, bud?”

Dum-E whirled around, fetching the ball that had rolled against his charging station. He let it go with as much velocity as he could, which was really not a lot, and Tony set Steve down so he could run and get it. It was just too big for Steve to grasp in his tiny puppy mouth, but he rolled it back to Dum-E, laying on the ground and waiting for the bot to pick it up.

“Good boy,” Tony let out as Dum-E crouched to pick up the ball, earning him a snippy bark from Steve. “I was not talking to you, I was talking to Dum-E. Calm down, Captain Barksalot.”

They played happily while Tony worked on upgrades to Clint’s arrows. When Tony noticed the workshop had fallen quiet, he looked up to find Dum-E back on his docking station, with Steve curled up on the base, sleeping peacefully.

* * *

Tony woke up with a start from his nightmare. He couldn’t catch his breath, the whole thing had just felt too real. He could feel it, all over again. The reactor going in, the scorching heat in that cave, the water on his face… Tony sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He tried to take deep breaths but failed miserably. He let his elbows brace on his knees, and his head fall in his hands for a beat.

“Come on, snap out of it, Stark. It wasn’t real. You’re fine. Everything’s fine.” Tony kept repeating it to himself, willing himself to believe it.

A minute later, still trying to calm himself and get his breathing under control, he felt a warm and fury nose poking at his arm.

“Shit, Steve. Now is not the time.” Tony bit out the words, having forgotten he’d let Steve sleep in his bed again. “I’m fine, okay, go back to sleep.”

Steve was insistent though, wiggling his way onto Tony’s lap and looking up at him with literal puppy dog eyes.

“That is unfair Rogers and you know it,” Tony sighed. Tony closed his eyes, making Steve paw at his stomach. Tony moved his hands to the soft fur that covered Steve – God, wasn’t that a weird thought still. He petted Steve’s fur, letting the warm little bundle’s rhythmic breathing slowly soothe him. He rubbed Steve’s head for a while longer. When he’d finally gotten back to a normal breathing pattern, he opened up his eyes, looking down at Steve, who was now curled adorably on his lap.

“I swear if you use this against me later so we get a dog, I’m kicking you out of the tower.” He rolled his eyes at Steve’s expression, the puppy equivalent of his usual eyebrow of disapproval. “Thanks for the assist, Cap,” he finally said quietly before moving Steve back to his side of the bed and settling himself back under the covers.

Just before he fell asleep, he felt Steve’s soft little body pressed up against his upper back, and a warm little nose against the back of his neck.

* * *

Tony was bouncing around the back of the quinjet, willing it to finish the distance to the tower faster somehow.

They’d been gone for 3 days. That wasn’t even long by their standards, but it had felt longer than usual, especially since it was supposed to be a quick one-day thing. And beyond that, it was weird not to have Steve with them. He couldn’t get the memory of his sad little face when he’d told him they had to leave for a mission out of his mind. Steve had whined and tried to use his puppy eyes, even though he likely knew it wouldn’t change anything – not this time at least. They couldn’t bring him along, and they couldn’t stay. Happy had been left in charge of making sure Steve was well taken care of – and boy had that been a bizarre thing to explain to him. He sent status reports in every chance he got, and he had mentioned that Steve seemed rather agitated after he had mentioned the team would be gone longer, but that everything was fine back home. Tony still missed him though, both the puppy form and human one.

When the jet finally landed at the tower, he made a beeline for the common room floor. He rounded the corner to the living room and saw Steve curled in a ball in Tony’s usual spot on the couch, fast asleep. He made his way to the couch, squatting in front of him, careful not to wake him. When Steve stretched in his sleep and bumped against Tony, he startled himself awake, making Tony laugh softly.

“Hey bud, we’re home. The rest of the team isn’t far behind, I just- just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he told him, petting his head lightly. The moment the realization hit Steve, he went into overdrive. Anyone that didn’t know they’d only been gone for a few days would have thought they hadn’t seen each other in months.

The rest of the team walked in just as Steve started bouncing around the couch, barking happily in one of the least human ways puppy Steve had ever acted. He walked up to the edge of the couch, tail wagging a mile a minute and licked Tony’s cheek, making the man start to laugh hysterically. Steve took that as permission to jump on him, catching Tony off guard and making him topple backwards, with Steve jumping all over him, licking his face playfully.

“Should we give them some privacy?” Bruce asked, looking over to Natasha. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Clint pull out his phone and take a video of the scene before them.

“Nah, they have no idea what’s going on,” Natasha replied as Tony was screeching for Steve to stop while he laughed and laughed. They filed out of the common area, heading to their respective rooms to drop their things, leaving Steve and Tony to their reunion.

Moments later, Steve stopped abruptly and settled himself high on Tony’s chest, looking intently at Tony’s face before bumping his head lightly against one of his cheeks.

“Oh, yeah. It’s just a scratch. I’m fine. All of us, we’re okay, Steve.” Tony rubbed the top of his head, Steve letting himself fall against Tony’s large hand. “We’re home.”

* * *

“How many more pencils are you going to break before you realize you cannot do this?” Tony asked, exasperated. Steve was laying down on the workbench, his head between his paws, looking sad at having broken a third pencil. “I know you’re bored. Fuck knows I’d be going insane in your place, but even your tiny, adorable puppy jaw is too lethal for your pencils. I’ll buy you new ones, but you need to resign yourself to the fact that you just can’t draw as a corgi, Steve.”

Steve huffed out a breath, not moving his head from where it lay. Tony chuckled at just how ‘Steve’ the expression on his face was – adorably annoyed was a good look on both his puppy and human form. Tony returned to finagling with the Iron Man helmet under the watchful eye of his current workshop-mate. He explained what he was doing, which Steve seemed to appreciate, letting out little sounds as if to ask for clarifications sometimes. He never thought he’d be having conversations with a dog, but Steve understanding everything the team said and did had prompted all of them to chat with him as if he were his old self.

“Sir, Dr. Banner is requesting your assistance in his laboratory,” JARVIS called out.

“You going to be okay alone for a bit?” Tony asked Steve as he settled the helmet on its side so it wouldn’t accidentally roll off the workbench. Steve barked twice, their new version of ‘yes’, and Tony made his way to Bruce’s lab.

An hour later when he returned, he found Steve curled up in a tight ball in the Iron Man helmet, his head poking out the side, once again fast asleep, and Tony’s heart melted at the sight. He couldn’t bring himself to wake him up, so he went to work on the upgrades to Steve’s suit instead.

* * *

_ Jesus Fucking Christ, Rogers,  _ Tony thought to himself as he ran towards the commotion Steve had caused at the dog park. The little toy fox terrier Steve had been playing with over the past couple of weeks of being a puppy had been at the park that day, and Steve had run over to him happily. Sometimes, it was hard for Tony to remember that this was actually Steve and not a real puppy.

The two small dogs had been running around, eagerly taking turns running after one another when a standard poodle had joined them and started trotting behind them. Tony had ignored them for the most part, sitting on a bench and answering SI emails, until he heard the bark of a very angry little corgi over that of the much larger dog. Steve had positioned himself between the poodle and the terrier, front body and legs low to the ground, barking and growling at the poodle while the terrier cowered behind him in a corner of the fenced park.

“Ste- Cap! Cap, stand down,” Tony yelled out, catching himself as he spotted another person running in the same direction. Tony scooped up both small dogs when he noticed the other person petting the poodle and he looked around, finding the owner of the other dog in his arms – an older lady who was slowly making her way towards them. He brought them over, handing her the little dog while she petted Cap and thanked him for standing up to the big dog for her little guy, making Tony smile.

“Even as a dog, you’re playing superhero and standing up to bullies, huh,” Tony whispered to Steve, scratching under his chin and giving him a kiss on the head, catching himself as he did it. He didn’t have much time to think about why he’d done it before a voice resounded behind him.

“Is that your dog?”

Tony turned to see the man who’d run to the poodle coming his way. “Yeah, I guess he’s mine,” Tony answered, not really having been asked that before.

“How dare he attack my dog like that!” The man spit out the words with so much rage, Tony was stunned for a second.

“Excuse me, what? He didn’t  _ attack _ your dog, he just barked at it a bit,” Tony answered confused, looking back at the perfectly groomed poodle with a giant pink bow on top of its head that was just sitting there looking at them talk. “Your dog seems perfectly fine.”

“Were you even looking? He snapped at her and was growling.”

Tony shook his head and avoided rolling his eyes, even under his sunglasses. “While I wasn’t paying close attention to what exactly got Cap so upset, I’m sure he didn’t hurt your dog in the least. She had two miniscule dogs cornered and was scaring  _ them _ . I know my- I know Cap enough to know he wouldn’t have been barking and growling for no reason. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be going home.”

“He’s a puppy, there is no way he knows better.” The other man crossed his arms and started tapping his foot, giving Tony major Elle Woods vibes for a minute.

“As a matter of fact, I know he does. He’s… mature for his age.” Tony clipped the leash on Steve’s collar and set him down. Steve sat at Tony’s heel, waiting to be told to move – both because he always stayed right by Tony’s feet when they walked, and because he was 100% showing off too. He had barely settled himself that the poodle charged at him. Steve moved into a defensive pose and growled instead of hiding or getting out of the way. Tony scooped him up just before the other dog could trample him, throwing Tony off balance in the process. Tony managed to keep Steve from being crushed under his weight by landing on his side with Steve held tightly against him. Steve licked Tony’s cheek once and barked softly before turning to look back at the poodle again, a small growl escaping him.

“I’m fine, bud. It’s okay,” Tony replied with a groan. He sat himself up and looked at the other man. “Still think this little guy is the problem?”

The other man scoffed at him and went to grab his dog and leave.

“Well that was interesting,” Tony turned to Steve as he spoke. “How about we go home, huh?”

Steve let out another low bark and whine, placing his paw on Tony’s forearm.

“I’ll defend your honour any day of the week, even if you are a complete menace, don’t worry. I knew you didn’t do anything wrong. Now come on, let’s go home and we can have ice cream and watch Brooklyn 9-9 so you can pine over Cheddar, how does that sound?”

Steve let out a whine that sounded far too exasperated for any dog, as Tony stood up and brushed off some dirt from his jeans, laughing as he led them out of the park.

* * *

Tony woke up slowly. The warm breath that tickled the hairs on the back of his neck made him smile. He sighed softly, not moving, enjoying the quiet of the morning. The strong arm wrapped around his waist pulled him in closer, as lips gently brushed against the skin on his neck-

Wait, what?

The realization must have hit the two of them at the same time, as Tony tensed and the arm around him loosened in tandem.

“Good morning?” Tony said quietly.

“Hey,” Steve’s normal, very human voice replied, sounding just a bit rougher than usual, and Tony wasn’t sure if it was from lack of use, too much barking, or just how Steve sounded in the morning.

He let go of Tony’s waist, moving himself back closer to the other side of the bed –  _ his _ side. Tony rolled to his other side so he could look at Steve.

“Was starting to wonder when I’d see you again,” Tony finally said, breaking the slightly awkward silence.

“Yeah, me too. Well, you know what I mean. I didn’t think it’d last this long.” Steve propped himself up to a sitting position, realizing he was in his uniform, as he moved his pillow behind his back.

Tony watched as Steve slipped out of the top part of his uniform, leaving him in his undershirt. “What exactly happened? Thor still hasn’t found Loki, so we never got an answer, and his mom didn’t have much for us either, as you know,” Tony asked to distract himself from the sight before him.

Steve sighed, resting his head against the headboard. He shook his head lightly looking straight ahead as he started answering. “I was distracted. I was chatting with Nat-“

“Hold up. What? First off, you are  _ never _ distracted, and second, I barely heard you during that whole fight.” Tony sat himself up, turning so he could look at Steve. He sat himself by his legs instead of joining him against the headboard, making the covers a little difficult to manoeuvre around both of them.

“I am distracted a lot lately, actually. And I was using those private channels you set up for us. I know they’re supposed to be for emergencies, I just needed to talk something through… Anyways, Loki overheard and caught me off guard and the next thing I knew, I was stuck under the shield and you showed up.”

“That kind of explains it, I guess,” Tony replied. “Actually, no. It really doesn’t explain this at all. Why the hell did he turn you into a  _ puppy _ ?”

Steve groaned and banged his head against the headboard. “Before I tell you, can I just say… Thank you, for the past few weeks.” Steve finally looked at Tony and held his gaze. “I can’t imagine what a pain it must have been, among many other things. You didn’t have to let me sleep in here or take care of me the way you did. Let’s be honest, I would have been fine just staying in my room and having one of you come and drop off food or something. Or even if you took turns taking care of me.

“It was much scarier than I expected to be that small and vulnerable and still  _ know _ what was going on… I don’t know if it would have been easier if I had no idea that I was a human and understood everything you guys said. Anyways, thank you, Tony. Really.”

“Steve, come on.” Tony’s voice was soft as he spoke. “You would have done the same thing for me. For any of us! I wasn’t going to just leave you be until you came back.”

“Still. You didn’t need to teach Dum-E how to play fetch so I wouldn’t get bored. Build me a step so I could get on your bed. Or buy out Pet-Smart of every puppy toy they had. I’m keeping the Cap and Iron Man plushies, by the way; once we wash them.” Steve looked around, trying to find them on the bed.

Tony could feel his face heating up as Steve spoke. “It was really nothing, Steve.”

Steve smiled at him. “On that day we were fighting Loki? I was telling Natasha how scared I was of asking this guy I like out. That’s why I was distracted.”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “O-oh..?” he responded, his voice octaves higher than anything he’d ever heard come out of his mouth. That was not what he’d expected Steve to say at all.

“Yeah. He’s amazing. He is so kind, and generous, and caring. Would do anything to make the people around him happy, but won’t take any credit for it. Selfless too, sometimes annoyingly so. But, he has my back. Even when he has no idea what happened, he knows me enough to take my side without question. And he’s beautiful. Seriously, he’s hot as hell.”

Tony hadn’t even realized Steve was moving closer to him, and that he’d been following suit too, meeting him half-way. Tony took in a shaky breath at what the action implied. He looked up at Steve, being close enough that he had to tilt his head to look him in the eyes. “I’m sure he isn’t completely perfect though.”

Steve chuckled. “No, you’re right. He’s not. He drinks way too much coffee. And I recently found out he snores, which might be a bit annoying in the long term.” Steve brought a hand up to brush Tony’s hair from his forehead, following the motion of his fingers with his eyes as he followed his hairline until his hand could cup his jaw. “He bought me a really cute sweater though, so I think I can overlook the snoring.”

Steve’s thumb traced just below Tony’s bottom lip before he leaned in and brought their lips together, a soft kiss, barely a brush of their lips really, that still managed to send fireworks sparking through Tony’s core.

“I like you a whole lot, Tony,” Steve whispered as he pulled back just enough to speak the words, before kissing him again, just a bit longer but still as softly. “I’d love to take you out sometime. Anywhere that doesn’t involve a dog park would be nice.”

Tony laughed softly, pulling Steve in for another kiss before giving him an answer. “I’d like that a lot. I would have said yes even before all of this, by the way. But, I still don’t get why Loki turned you into a puppy.”

“Nat said she knew that I was talking about you because I was always giving you adorable puppy eyes whenever you were around or looked like a lost puppy when you weren’t. Loki heard me protest both, said something about how that must be where the expression puppy love came from, and he seemed to think it’d be funny if I got to experience it from that point of view.”

Tony hummed in understanding. “Well, you were a really cute puppy. Although, I will not miss picking up-“

“Oh god, do not finish that sentence, please! That was so embarrassing,” Steve mumbled the last of the statement into the crook of Tony’s neck.

“I’m happy you’re back to yourself. What do you want to do today?”

“I desperately want a shower, and some pizza and chocolate. But right now, I just want to stay in bed with you for a bit longer, since we’re already here anyways. It’s nice to finally be able to hold you.”

“Works for me.” Tony kissed Steve once more before they settled back under the covers, Tony pressed against Steve’s side with his head resting on his chest. “Am I allowed to say ‘cat nap’ or does it all have to be puppy puns from here on out? I mean, I’m  _ paw- _ sitive I can come up with  _ paw _ -some puns, if you give me some time, corgeous.”

Steve rolled over, pinning Tony under him with a long kiss. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

**Author's Note:**

> There are no words for how much fun this was to write. Yes, some inspiration is taken from our favourite celebrity canine, Mr. Dodger Evans (who was *this* close to making an appearance...).
> 
> Hopefully it brought you as much happiness as it has brought me :) Thank you for reading and indulging this fluff.


End file.
